By JANE HOUIN
Ohio Correspondent

REYNOLDSBURG, Ohio — Ohio farmers who want to preserve their farmland through the Clean Ohio Agricultural Easement Purchase Program (AEPP) can now apply online through their local sponsors.

Applications for the 2007 sixth funding round must be submitted electronically from the Ohio Department of Agriculture’s (ODA) website no later than June 1 at 5 p.m.

Former Ohio governor Bob Taft initialed the $400 million Clean Ohio fund in 2001 to preserve farmland and green space, develop recreational trails and clean up Brownfield sites. The ODA’s Office of Farmland Preservation implements the $25 million portion of this fund for the purchase of agricultural easements from willing landowners.

Now in its sixth year, the program supports the permanent preservation of Ohio’s most valuable farmland. An agricultural easement is an agreement between the landowner, the state and the local community to keep a piece of property in agricultural production, in perpetuity.

To date, $18.75 million in state and $7.05 million in federal funds have been used to purchase agricultural easements on 74 farms, with options to purchase easements on 24 additional farms totaling 20,385.79 acres.

In addition, since 2002 the department has been awarded more than $9 million in matching grant funds though USDA’s Farm and Ranch Land Protection Program.

To apply online, landowners interested in preserving their farmland should contact a local sponsor of their choice (i.e., board of county commissioners, board of township trustees, municipal officials, land trust or local Soil and Water Conservation District), which must submit an application to ODA on the landowner’s behalf.
Landowners cannot submit applications themselves

All interested parties should visit www.ohioagriculture.gov/farmland to download the application, instructions, and other important information. The local sponsor can then access the online application by creating a user account and following the instructions.

In addition to the purchase program, since 1999 ODA has accepted donated agricultural easements from landowners who wished to protect their family farms and keep them in agricultural production. Potential donations are evaluated on a case-by-case basis, as certain legal requirements must be met for an agricultural easement to be placed on a property. There are potential federal tax savings associated with the donation of an agricultural easement.

The state also administers the Ohio Agricultural Security Area Program (ASA), which went into effect in 2005. This program authorizes landowners of at least 500 acres of contiguous farmland to request from the boards of township trustees and county commissioners to enroll into an ASA for a 10-year period.

An ASA provides certain benefits to farmers, such as protection from non-agricultural development, a critical mass of land to help keep farming viable and possible tax exemptions on new real properties.

For more information about the program, contact the Office of Farmland Preservation at 614-728-6210.

This farm news was published in the May 16, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee.